Partial Mobilization

I reached out to some friends a couple weeks ago to pray for our Ukrainian ladies who are trying to get settled in Berlin. I am sad to report that Olga and Mariia are still in a horrible apartment. I wish it were different.

Depending on who you ask, I would say Alla's living situation is about to improve. She will likely be moving in with Team Biggs from October-December. While looking for a German class for Paul, I found a German "Integration" class that coincides with Alla's staying here. She is currently on the waiting list pending payment paperwork for this class. But, through a generous gift of Paul's coworkers, we might be able to get her in that first class without the official payment from the state. The community college's preference is to enroll students who have state financial support. However, they said that if there were still spots available in October, they would let us self fund for her to enroll.

The enrollment process for her German course was helpful for me to see a little bit more of the experience of Ukrainians living in Germany right now. Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of paperwork. There is a lot of good state support, but knowing the ins and outs is complicated and stressful. We had "moderate" success at the enrollment appointment but not without a few rounds of anxious eyes welling with tears.

While at the community college, we ran into a Ukrainian woman I met in one of my German classes. She was going to enroll her sister who has been living with her since the start of the war. The ladies exchanged some brief information about where they were from, exhaled a collective sigh, and then went to keep on living their unchosen life in exile. Learning a new language, finding housing, and trying to create a life while worrying about the people you love is exhausting.

Alla is, understandably, hesitant to move in with these people:

Wha? Someone wouldn't want to live with us?

However, three months with us will give her more time to look and save for an apartment of her own. Paul's company has a generous offer to give employees 300 Euros a month to host Ukrainians. I think it is a comfort to Alla that she won't be a financial burden. Also, I was already planning on only heating two bedrooms in our house, so that leaves one open for her. And yes, we will also heat that one too.

In the meantime, we are doing a "partial mobilization" of eBay furniture to help our house feel less chaotic. I've assured Alla these are projects were already necessary, so we're just moving things along. My pride prohibits me from before and after photos, but that same pride requires me to post our transportation methods:

New Lego Shelf: This particular move required carrying this huge cabinet down five flights of stairs, a trip back home for tools, and Paul to reschedule some meetings to walk the bike back. Whoops.

New Under-stair Shelving: This was my redemption round after the lego shelf debacle. It was 45 minutes door to door with no tools required.

This is the look of a woman who thought she was picking up some free food and additionally scored some extra organizational bins:

 Thanks Val!

On that note, I need to spend less time blogging about calming the chaos and more time organizing.